ASK THE TUTOR
 

Previously, registered purchasers of the Digital Photography Tutor eBook were invited to ask some individual questions that came up in their digital photography efforts. Here’s an archive of some of their questions, with my answers. Please note that some of these issues may apply to earlier Photoshop versions; recent versions include additional features that might provide better solutions.
 

Why Don’t More Pixels Result In a Better Quality Image?

Q: I just bought a new 5-Megapixel camera, but the images don’t seem any better than my old 3-Megapixel camera. Why can’t I see a difference?
- J.B.

A: First of all, please remember that many camera factors affect final print quality besides the number of original pixels captured, including the quality of the camera lens system, the technical specs of the sensor panel, and the camera’s internal image software processing. Outside of the camera some other factors can affect quality, including the extent of the adjustments you make in Photoshop, and the size of the final print. What the high-megapixel camera makers don’t often mention is that ultimate quality differences above 3 megapixels are often not noticeable for on-screen or email display, or until you try printing at 5x7, 8x10, or larger.

That said, please don’t feel that you’ve paid for more pixels than you needed.  I’m still a fan of big megapixel captures, because even if you only manage to take 2 or 3 great photos a year, you’ll really be thankful to have started with all those extra pixels that will allow you to use Photoshop and create superb large prints for your wall or desk.

But before you conclude that your new camera doesn’t make a difference for everyday use, make sure that you’re using the right camera settings to get the most out of those additional pixels. Typically there are two important camera settings that affect pixel capture: Size (pixel dimensions) and Quality (file type). Your camera may use different terms for these settings, so check your manual or the manufacturer’s website.

SIZE refers to the total number of pixels recorded. A 5-Megapixel camera has the capacity to capture individual color information for approximately 5 million pixels for each image (typically as a rectangle with a 4:3 ratio of 2560 x 1920 pixels). But this refers to maximum capacity. Most digital cameras permit you to reduce the number of pixels you want to record. You might make this reduction, for example, if you have only limited space left on your memory card or if you’re capturing images exclusively for a special low-resolution purpose. But because additional memory cards have become relatively inexpensive, it generally doesn’t make much sense to pay for a high-capacity digital camera but not set it to capture all the pixels it can handle. Check your camera’s set-up menu or other controls to make sure that the Size (pixel dimensions) setting is at maximum.

QUALITY refers to the format or compression system your digital camera uses to record each image in a computer file. For Quality, as opposed to Size, it’s not as simple to conclude that you always want the highest possible setting. The highest quality settings that many higher-end digital cameras offer are RAW or TIFF formats, which have some drawbacks: They result in large files that may increase the minimum time between shots, slow the eventual file downloading to your computer, and cannot be accessed as readily in the field or at home compared with the more convenient and universal JPEG format. So if you’re a casual photographer who doesn’t plan to make advanced-level Photoshop adjustments and print at 8x10 or larger, the extra quality potential of TIFF or RAW files may not be worth the large-file hassle.

Although all JPEG files suffer some permanent data loss from compression, many digital camera users find that setting the camera Quality to the highest available level of JPEG (sometimes called “fine” or “high”) is the best over-all compromise between convenience and quality. Later, as you gain Photoshop experience, you may prefer to shoot everything in RAW if your camera offers that, or else you may be able to recognize when a particular shot you’re about to take calls for changing your camera’s Quality setting to TIFF or RAW format.

Keeping Different Versions of an Image Separate and Identifiable.

Q: When I use Photoshop Elements, I find that I’m often making different versions of an image (for example, the original camera file, a Photoshop-corrected image, a 4x6 print size, and a JPEG to send by email). What’s the best way to keep all these changes straight, so I can find them again?
- F.H.

A: The answer is part of what we mean by workflow – a standard series of steps that you consistently perform as part of your personal Photoshop procedures. Here, your regular workflow should include saving the different versions of the image as separate files using a standard NAMING convention and a standard FILE LOCATION.

NAMING different image version files is not difficult: Simply adopt a standard file name form that identifies the image version of the photos you work on in Photoshop.

For example, you might work on your original camera image file using Photoshop Layers without any cropping or resampling (both of which affect all layers, including the original Background Layer) so that the bottom layer preserves the original camera image. You would use File>Save As to save this file with a basic name such as “Pink Rose Oct 05.psd”.

Then if you go on to resample or crop the image, you would use Save As in order to save the changed image under a different name such as “Pink Rose Oct 05-4x6.psd”.

Finally, if you want to send either version of the image as an email attachment, you would need a single-layered (flattened) image in JPEG format with reduced size and resolution for convenient transmission. You could perform these changes manually, but you’ll find it easier to let Photoshop Elements help you with its Save for Web function (File>Save for Web). Then save the resulting file as a JPEG file with a name such as “Pink Rose Oct 05.jpg” (or if you’ve saved the original camera file under that name, you could use a name such as “Pink Rose Oct 05-email.jpg”).

FILE LOCATION: Photographers use different file location systems, but most non-professional photographers find it helpful to store photo files under My Documents\My Pictures using subfolders based upon events (“Judy 6 birthday”, or “France 08”) or calendar periods (“Summer 08” or “December 08”). Depending on how many pictures you take, you may also want to develop a more elaborate folder hierarchy (My Documents\My Pictures\Travel\France 08). Although image file organizing and indexing programs (such as the Organizer module built into Photoshop Elements 3 or later for PC/Windows) often claim that their indexing, keywording, and search functions make subfolders obsolete, many photographers feel more comfortable continuing with a folder organization system. In fact, Organizer offers a Folder View option that you may find very convenient for viewing images that you have saved in subfolders.

If you’re a MAC user, or if you’re a PC/Windows user still running Photoshop Elements 2, simply save all versions of the same image (the PSD, the 4x6 PSD, and the email JPG) as individual files in the same subfolder.

If you’re a PC/Windows user running Photoshop Elements 3 or later, however, you can go beyond this and use the Save As command to save different version files of the same image in a single Version Set in the Organizer. This will place all the Organizer thumbnails in a bundle in order to conserve room in the main Organizer panel. The Organizer thumbnail for a Version Set has an identifying icon at the top right corner. 

To make a Version Set, in the Save Options area at the bottom of the Save As dialog box, be sure to check both the Include in Organizer box and the Save in Version Set with Original box. If you don’t want to bother manually changing the name of the file, Elements will automatically add _edited-1 [or a later serial number] to the original file name in order to distinguish each of the files in a Version Set.

Printer Output Doesn't Match Screen Image

Q: I can use Elements to improve my photos so they look great on the screen, but sometimes the prints from my inkjet printer look terrible. What printer should I get for better photo prints?
- R.H.

A: If you're using a general purpose inkjet printer, you might get better results with a photo printer that typically has 6 ink colors and uses a driver optimized for photo printing.  Many entry-level photo printers are surprisingly inexpensive. Some even share the same technology, inks, and paper with the manufacturer's advanced models, and only lack some special features, or the ability to print in large format.

But even with a specialized inkjet photo printer, you still have to perform the proper Color Management steps if you want to match your printer output to the image on your screen.  Color Management can involve calibrating and profiling your monitor and making the correct settings in the screen panels under the Elements Print Preview command and your printer driver. You can check out the details in Chapter 12 of your DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TUTOR eBook.

And remember that solving printer fidelity problems is often just a matter of using your printer manufacturer's recommended inks and paper, and running your printer's print-head testing and cleaning utility before each session, especially if you don't use your printer every day.  Testing should not use up much ink, but unnecessary cleaning can cause ink costs to soar.  If your printer does an automatic print-head cleaning each time it's turned on and you only use your printer occasionally, try keeping the printer switched off when not in use; or if you use the printer often, consider keeping it on continuously.

Is CD/DVD Storage Permanent?

Q: In the DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TUTOR you advise archiving photos onto CD or DVD disks. But I've heard that those disks may not really be permanent.
- F.R.

A: It's technically true that CDs and DVDs are not truly "permanent."  They use a dye technology to encode data, and the dyes may fade over a great many years, especially if the disk is exposed to light.  The recording surface of the disk is also subject to damage from scratching if handled roughly or may become cracked if the disk is flexed or bent. 

Still another type of impermanence comes from future changes in technology. CDs or DVDs may become the phonograph record, 8-track audio tape, or BetaMax video tape of tomorrow -- even if the medium remains physically OK, none of us will have the devices to play it.  So we'll all probably have occasion to re-record our CD/DVD photo archives to another technology sometime in the future.

But compared to other systems currently available at reasonable cost, CDs and DVDs offer the best promise of very long term durability (in the range of 30 years or perhaps much more), especially if you use quality brand-name disks and handle and store them with care.

(Special Tutor's Tip: To be ultra conservative, don't write across an archival disk to label it.  Some experts suspect that even felt-tipped marker inks could bleed through over time.  Instead, restrict your labeling to the clear hub around the center hole of the disk, where it can't affect the data surface on the other side.)

 

Unsharp Mask Filter

Q: I have a lot of trouble with the Unsharp Mask filter, and most of my photos look worse after I try to sharpen them.  What am I doing wrong?
- P.L.

A: I wasn't just joking in the DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TUTOR when I said that the Unsharp Mask filter would soon have you wishing you had three hands!  But I hope that the difficulties in making interactive changes in the three sliders for the Unsharp Mask filter won't cause you to give up this important step for improving your digital photos. Most digital camera photos benefit from some sharpening.  Sharpening can literally put the sparkle back into your subject's eyes, or give everything in your photo new "pop" and depth. 

You're probably struggling with the very common problem (above) of oversharpening.  It generally announces itself in the unnatural dark or light halos appearing around objects in your photo.  I wish the prescription to cure this were as simple as the diagnosis.  It just seems to take a lot of experimentation and practice for any of us to get the Unsharp Mask filter right.  Here are some steps you can try:

It isn't just the Amount slider that causes oversharpening.  The culprit for those halos could be the Radius setting (which governs how wide a path of edge-pixels will be changed).  Try reducing the Radius (and then perhaps adjusting the Amount).

Make sure you're looking at the proper areas of the image in the Unsharp Mask preview box.  Remember that relatively solid, interior parts of objects won't change much with Unsharp Mask.  Click on a part of the image in the Document Window that contains important edges (eyes, hair, etc.), to make that the area that shows in the preview window.  Set your preview window magnification to 100%, but check your changes as you're making them by examining both the selected area in the preview window and the full image in the document window.

If your sharpening is causing overall speckling in the image, you're sharpening the image noise.  Before you sharpen, reduce the noise (by cloning or applying the Gaussian Blur filter to the noisy areas).  If the problem is in the background, make a selection of the objects and their immediate background so that the Unsharp Mask filter doesn't operate on the rest of the background pixels.

If this whole issue of sharpening is threatening to reduce the fun of digital photography for you, you may want to buy an automatic sharpener plug-in program.  Download the free tryout version of the “nik Sharpener Pro” program and see if that's the answer for you.

Installing Digital Photography Tutor on a Windows XP PC

Q: I’m having problems installing Digital Photography Tutor on my Windows XP hard drive. 
- W.I.

A: I apologize for this inconvenience. I’ve been there before with other programs -- apparently there’s no way to prepare a disk that will install on everyone’s computer regardless of the individual settings possible on different computers. A few Digital Photography Tutor users have emailed me with their problems, and we’ve always been able to work things out. Most of the reported problems have centered around the Windows XP AutoPlay feature. You can find a step-by-step solution to that in the current Installing the eBook page of this website. If that doesn’t help, please email me to describe your specific problem, including identifying your computer model and your operating system. Even if you don’t have much experience with your computer, we’ll find a solution. Email me at:
        JerryRabow@DigitalPhotographyTutor.com

The Active Tool in Photoshop Elements

Q: How do I deactivate all the tools in Photoshop Elements?
- A.N.

A: One of the Photoshop tools must be active at any time, so you cannot deactivate all the tools at once. 

Since it's possible to accidentally change the image by unintentionally clicking or dragging in the Document Window with some tools, I recommend that whenever you're not currently working with a tool, you activate one of the tools that does not change the image -- in particular, the Hand tool (just press "H"). An extra benefit of this is that the Tool Options Bar for the Hand tool displays buttons for instantly viewing at either 100%, Actual Pixels, or Fit on Screen. (The Zoom tool works similarly, but it can be a bother to get back to where you were if you accidentally change the Zoom level.)

Camera Records Duplicate Images

Q: My camera is recording two versions of every photo I take – one is a big file (high-resolution) and one is a small file (low resolution). This just fills up my camera’s memory card with duplicates. What’s the problem?
- H.D.

A: Camera problems are difficult to diagnose without seeing the camera or reading the manual. From what you describe, my guess is that your camera has a Quality or Format setting that records images using a large-file, high-quality format like TIFF or RAW, and at the same time automatically makes a copy in low-quality JPEG (sort of serving as a thumbnail, since large TIFF or RAW files are difficult to review in the field).

If this is what’s causing your problem, try setting the camera quality instead to the finest level of JPEG that your camera offers -- that should be fine enough for good 4x6 or 5x7 prints, and probably won't record in duplicate. Quality settings are usually under a set-up menu that you can read on your camera screen if you press the Menu button.
 
Note that if you plan on learning and using Photoshop to improve your photos in the computer and perhaps to be able to print out the best of them in 8x10 size (or even larger), then you may eventually want to have TIFF or RAW images to work with, so there's nothing wrong with what your camera is doing. You can always convert down from super-high-quality RAW or TIFF formats to the more convenient JPEG, but you can’t effectively reverse the process if you only capture images in JPEG. But expect your picture-taking to be a little slower because of the time required for the camera to process each large image file, and remember to carry along an extra memory card for long trips.